Preaspiration in the Nordic Languages: Synchronic and Diachronic ...

from the preaspiration noise itself. Also, an echo may make it more difficult
to determine voice offset, irrespective of whether it occurs before or
after a stop closure is made. In the present data, such echo effects have
been considered during segmentation so this should not affect the quantitative
analysis to any significant degree.
The second set of data comes from the SWEDIA 2000 database
(Bruce et al. 1999). These data, described further in section 0 below, are
used for a durational analysis of preaspiration.
4.4.2 Fortis stops
As in almost all Nordic dialects, the ON word-initial fortis stops are
reflected as postaspirated in the Gräsö dialect. An example of a postaspirated
dental stop is given in Figure 4–56. Typically, the duration of a
postaspirated stop in the onset of a content word is 40–60 ms, although
they can be considerably shorter (see Figure 4–71) or longer (see Figure
4–72). Predictably, the duration of postaspiration seems to correlate with,
for example, stress and place of articulation.
h e
Figure 4–56. Subj. JM: […alldeles]
tätt ä[nda…] ‘…all the way up to…’
– 170 –
s h
Figure 4–57. Subj. JM: […några]
stycken [som…] ‘…a few who…’
In word medial position, ON fortis stops are reflected as preaspirated,
both in VC and in VC syllables. In stressed VC syllables in content
words, preaspirations are typically 40–60 ms in duration, as in the
example in Figure 4–56. The range of preaspiration durations seems
greater than that of postaspirations. In the example in Figure 4–57, the